Hi Shuna - It must just be the amount of batter I am putting into the tins because the tops of the cupcakes do overflow a bit onto the top of the pan, though I wouldn't say they stuck. A little swirl of a toothpick around the edge seems to free them easily from the pans. This particular cake does not involve creaming (it uses oil and hot water like a boxed mix would) and only has a 1/2 t baking soda for 12-ish cupcakes. I have a conventional oven, too. It's not as if the tops come off every cupcake; just that if you try and undo the liners, sometimes it seems that the top of the cupcake wants to separate, as well. I don't have this problem every time I bake, but I have noticed it with this particular chocolate cake and my red velvet cake. Could the cocoa powder (I'm using natural) have anything to do with it? I find these two cakes to be very airy, as well. I wonder if the very light, fluffy crumb these recipes produce simply make the cupcakes more prone to breakage.

When you mentioned over-creaming - I was always taught to cream the butter and sugar together for 3 - 5 minutes until it was light and fluffy and not so grainy. Is that the correct amount of time?